Scrapbooks and Home Schooling = A Winning Combination!

If you are reading this article, chances are you already home
school. Most of us have been through curriculum reviews, textbook
decision making, choosing which units to teach and making numerous
lesson plans. One way to reduce the planning, decision making
and testing formats is to use scrapbooks in daily, weekly, monthly,
or yearly lesson plans...and with wonderful end results!

Scrapbooks have changed so much through the years. A decade
or two ago, scrapbooks were plain books with pages that yellowed
through the years. Page protectors were unheard of, and the
type of glue one used was a regular "school glue"
that dried and cracked with time. These days things have changed,
with an intense focus being put on preservation and saving our
memories, whether they are photographs, newspaper articles,
or journaling of stories and anecdotes.

One important way scrapbooks can be used with our lessons is
to preserve what our children are learning and how they are
going about learning it. Documenting field trips, special visitors,
unusual projects and even the day-to-day learning we all do
is a wonderful idea! While learning to write doesn't seem that
thrilling as G's are formed and T's are crossed, looking back
on how far your child's handwriting has come is quite an eye-opening
experience! It's hard to believe, looking at your 7th grader's
cursive writing, that she ever struggled to write her name!

People often tell us to enjoy the years when our kids are young,
because they pass all too quickly. This is such a true statement,
but preserving your children's memories and school days can
provide hours of reminiscing when the children are older. We
all would tend to agree that taking pictures of our child's
birthday parties, riding a bike for the first time, or recording
a first lost tooth is important. But just as important is a
record of how and what our children have learned with regards
to writing, reading, math, science, and all other subjects.

Some examples of papers, photographs and journaling to put
in a scrapbook might include:

Samples of your child's first printing of the alphabet,
words, sentences, etc.

Samples of your child's first attempts at cursive writing

Examples of the first time(s) your child added numbers

A picture of your child working on a science experiment

Art work your child has drawn, painted, etc.

Photographs of any 3-dimensional artwork such as sculptures,
large art pieces, murals, posters, etc.

A photograph of your child standing next to his first science
fair project

Your child's thoughts about her first day on the local soccer
team

Your child's hopes, dreams, aspirations and goals (yearly)

A second important way scrapbooks can be used with home schooling
is to have your child make her own books about subjects she
has studied. Depending on your child's age, she can complete
the entire scrapbook, or parts of it, entirely by herself. Completing
a project like this involves time management, cost analysis,
layout and design, creativity, using color, and journaling.
Journaling alone can provide practice with handwriting, grammar,
spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and many more skills.

Some book themes and ideas to consider might include:

Buildings Through the Ages

The History of Music

Republican Presidents

How Gears, Levers and Pulleys Work

How Thanksgiving Came to Be

Religions Around the World

Trees of the Eastern Region of the United States

My Favorite Poems

Scrapbooks can be included in any subject no matter how unusual
it is! Scrapbooks also tend to be a lot more interesting and
enjoyable for students to complete, as opposed to essays, written
reports, and the other "usual" methods of assigning
projects. Students tend to LIKE working in their scrapbooks,
while enjoyment is not always a factor when a one has a report
to write! And, while papers and worksheets tend to be pushed
aside or thrown away when finished, a scrapbook is something
of which a child can be proud. It's a special transcript and
yearbook of a time in your child's life.

When we started home schooling most of us had to make certain
decisions. Just as we had to decide whether to homeschool "on
a shoestring" or go "all out" using a complete
curriculum, using scrapbooks when teaching can be simple or
elaborate. A scrapbook can be costly or inexpensive. It can
use homemade designs and decorations or can be store-bought.
The scrapbook may be small or large, thick or thin. There is
no right or wrong way to make a scrapbook as long as the book
uses acid free materials so the memories within will be preserved
for years and years to come. Once you start using scrapbooks
in your home schooling you might just find that your child is
more excited about school than ever before!

Kelly Crespin has her BS in Elementary Education and a MS
in Gifted and Talented Education. She now homeschools her daughters,
writes test questions for standardized tests, and runs scrapbookinghomeschoolers,
which is a Yahoo Groups list for those who enjoy both pursuits
- scrapbooking and homeschooling.